Heist at Ludhiana doctor couple’s home
2 min readThe Ludhiana police on Tuesday arrested four persons and recovered from them Rs 3.51 crore in cash, 271 gram gold and 88 gram silver jewellery, which they had allegedly robbed from the house of a doctor couple in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar of Ludhiana.
Initially the couple had reported that Rs 15 lakh was stolen from their house but as investigation progressed, it turned out to be a multi-crore heist, police said, adding that the accused were arrested from Amritsar where they had hired a hotel room. A 12 bore pistol was also recovered from the crime scene, said police.
The arrested were identified as Gurwinder Singh Sonu (39) of Sua Road, Pavneet Singh Shalu (42) of Dugri, and Jagpreet Singh (22) and Sahildeep Singh (21), both from Tarn Taran.
In her complaint, Dr Harkamal Bagga had said that on September 14 she came home around 8.40 pm. The watchman opened the main gate. Her husband Dr Wahegurupal Singh was already home. A few minutes later, she said, four masked men barged inside, scaling the boundary wall. They flashed a weapon, held her husband and watchman hostage, and tied them with a tape. Then the accused took her to the storeroom where cash and jewellery were kept, and executed the loot, she said.
Police said that the doctor couple hold authorisation from several countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and others.
Addressing a press conference, Ludhiana Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu said that the couple initially claimed robbery of Rs 15 lakh, but police have recovered Rs 3.51 crore in cash and jewellery worth around Rs 20 lakh. “The couple may have intentionally underreported the actual amount fearing the income tax department. Even the accused were unaware that cash was in crores,” CP Sidhu said, adding that involvement of an insider who knew about cash lying at home was also suspected and further probe was on.
Most Read
Jawan box office collection day 12: Shah Rukh Khan’s blockbuster nears Rs 900 crore gross worldwide
Farida Jalal recalls the time when Amitabh Bachchan-Jaya Bachchan were dating: ‘They would pick me up at night, we would go for long drives’
Gurwinder Singh Sonu has four previous cases of cheating and forgery registered against him, while Pavneet Singh Shalu has three cases of snatching and theft filed against him. Police said that the accused had also taken away the couple’s Maruti SX4 vehicle which has also been recovered from them.
An FIR in the case was registered under Sections 392, 506, 34 of IPC and 25/54/59 of Arms Act at Dugri police station.
For solving the case, CP Sidhu said that Punjab DGP Guarav Yadav has announced a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh and DGP discs for the team, including DCP (rural) Jaskiranjit Singh Teja, ADCP (city-2) Suhail Qassim Mir, ACP Guriqbal Singh, Inspector Madhu Bala (SHO) and Inspector Kulwant Singh (in-charge CIA-1).
